Saturday, August 29, 2015
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Friday, August 14, 2015
The Good News
The Good News
There are a thousand different ways of describing the good news—the Gospel—but the shortest way is the one Jesus Himself announced: “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is arriving” (Mark 1:15).
In other words, it’s all about how God became King. It’s about the actual inauguration of God’s Kingdom on earth as in heaven. And since many Christians think the Kingdom of God is simply a fancy way of saying “Heaven,” they miss the point: that something actually happened that changed the way in which God is now in charge of the world.
The four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—and Paul all proclaim something that has already happened. God’s people expected Him to raise people from the dead at the very end of time. But He has done that already in the person of Jesus.
This brings into sharp focus Jesus’ own claim, which is that the Kingdom of God was arriving then and there in His own ministry.
Jesus says, “If I, by the finger of God, cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” In other words, this is not just an anticipation—this is the reality that is in tension with the sense of anticipation of His death and resurrection.
But when you take the whole package together, it’s about something that has happened as a result of which everything is different. Rather than something that has happened that merely enables us to operate a system of how we go to heaven.
God intends to put the whole world right. So He puts us right in the present through the good news so we can be part of His putting-right project for the world.
What God did for Jesus at Easter, He has promised to do for the whole creation. This is something many Christians fail to realize, even when they devoutly believe in the resurrection. They fail to realize that the resurrection was God beginning a new creation, and He’s going to complete it.
There are a thousand different ways of describing the good news—the Gospel—but the shortest way is the one Jesus Himself announced: “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is arriving” (Mark 1:15).In other words, it’s all about how God became King. It’s about the actual inauguration of God’s Kingdom on earth as in heaven. And since many Christians think the Kingdom of God is simply a fancy way of saying “Heaven,” they miss the point: that something actually happened that changed the way in which God is now in charge of the world.
The four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—and Paul all proclaim something that has already happened. God’s people expected Him to raise people from the dead at the very end of time. But He has done that already in the person of Jesus.
This brings into sharp focus Jesus’ own claim, which is that the Kingdom of God was arriving then and there in His own ministry.
Jesus says, “If I, by the finger of God, cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” In other words, this is not just an anticipation—this is the reality that is in tension with the sense of anticipation of His death and resurrection.
But when you take the whole package together, it’s about something that has happened as a result of which everything is different. Rather than something that has happened that merely enables us to operate a system of how we go to heaven.
God intends to put the whole world right. So He puts us right in the present through the good news so we can be part of His putting-right project for the world.
What God did for Jesus at Easter, He has promised to do for the whole creation. This is something many Christians fail to realize, even when they devoutly believe in the resurrection. They fail to realize that the resurrection was God beginning a new creation, and He’s going to complete it.
A List of Children's Books That Celebrate Black Boys
http://www.binoandfino.com/blog/2015/8/11/a-list-of-childrens-books-that-celebrate-black-boys
Saturday, August 8, 2015
The Priority of True Worship pt.1 by Rev.M.D.Rogers
Jesus’ words about worship to
this unnamed Samaritan woman occur in the context of His witness to bring this
woman to saving faith. We might not think that witnessing is the right context
to talk about the priority of worship. But Jesus takes her implicit question
(4:20) about whether Samaritan worship or Jewish worship is correct and uses it
to zero in on the aim of the gospel: to turn sinners into true worshipers of
God. We learn:
Since God is seeking true worshipers
who worship Him in spirit and truth, we should make it our priority to become
such worshipers.
Jesus tells this woman that a
significant transition is about to take place (4:23), “But an hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and
truth.” Jesus’ presence began this change from the old covenant to the new.
Under the old way of worship, place was significant: all Jewish males had to
appear before God in Jerusalem for the three annual feasts (Deut. 16:16). But
in the new way which Jesus inaugurated, He is the new temple (John 2:19-21).
Believers are being built into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21; 1 Pet.
2:5). Thus where we gather to worship is secondary. How and whom we worship is
primary.
Unbelievers, such as the
Samaritan woman at this point, often mistakenly think that if they go through
the proper externals of “worship,” then things are okay between them and God.
As long as they go to a church building and go through the weekly rituals, they
figure that everything is fine. But they haven’t dealt with God on the heart
level. They haven’t repented of their sins of thought, word, and deed. So Jesus
tells her that it’s not the externals that matter as much as the internal. We
must make it our priority to become true worshipers of God in spirit and truth.
Note three truths from these important verses:
God is seeking true
worshipers.
Albany's E.G. Sherman to present paper about Vernon Johns in Memphis.
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2014/sep/25/albany8217s-eg-sherman-to-present-paper-about/
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